Us-05 May Have Just Stopped On Me..

[jbowers]

Hey,

my IPA has been fermenting along nicely up until today when the bubbles (i know not a sure sign) in the airlock have stopped. I did a hydro reading and its smelling pretty funky/yeasty still and is at 1.022.

I know it might not have stopped, but so I'm prepared if it has - what can I do to get it started again, it really needs to get down to atleast 1.015, being a clean american style and all. It fermented at around 18-20 degrees. Should I let it get up to about 21 to see if that kicks it back off?

Hopefully it hasnt stopped fermenting yet, but just in case I thought I'd get some opinions on something which I'm sure will happen to me in the future, even if it doesnt now.

Cheers,
James

 

[seemax]

Give your fermentor a shake, rattle and roll to get the yeast back into suspension.

The less sanitary option is stirring it with a sanitised spoon.

THen get it up to 20+C.

Good luck... wasn't dry malt extract by any chance??

 

[Synthetase]

It probably hasn't stopped, just slowed down. If you're really worried, give the fermenter a bit of a swirl and push the temp up a degree or so to help it finish off.

 

[jbowers]

Will do, thanks guys.

 

[Renegade]

What's the recipe ? As time passes in my short but satisfying brewing 'career', I find that more & more there's observations concerning ingredients, and how they impact on the attenuation. Mine generally finish higher than expected, but I'm getting to know why, based on the processes (and the constituents of the wort) that came before it.

Don't worry about the funky/yeasty aspect for now. If it's not rank, the don't worry for now, the finished beer will probably be fine after bottle conditioning.

 

[jbowers]

It looks like it is half yeast at the moment, so murky etc. I'm not worried about the smell, it tastes great already.

Recipe was a bells 2 hearted clone ish.

2 kg of DME added after boil. 1.5 kg of LME added in to boil. .25 kg of carapils, 20l crystal and munich. 75ish IBUs of Centennial hops added at 60, 30 and 5 minutes.

 

[Georgedgerton]

What's the recipe ? As time passes in my short but satisfying brewing 'career', I find that more & more there's observations concerning ingredients, and how they impact on the attenuation. Mine generally finish higher than expected, but I'm getting to know why, based on the processes (and the constituents of the wort) that came before it.

Don't worry about the funky/yeasty aspect for now. If it's not rank, the don't worry for now, the finished beer will probably be fine after bottle conditioning.

I recently had an Old style beer (SG 1.060) fermented with Windsor ale yeast suddenly stop at 1.020. The brew was relatively clear and no amount rousing made the slightest effect. The base was a mix of Golden Promise and some Marisotta. The Marisotta was near the end of its Use By and the the mash temp was on the high end. The beer was perfectly drinkable other than being a bit too malty - for obvious reasons.

I put that down to a far portion of the grain being a bit old and the high mash temp.

Would like to hear from others on this

 

[jbowers]

Still at 1.022 and still yeasty/funky. Hmmm...

Edit: Just found the guy who I got this recipe off apparently finished at about 1.023 for him as well.

Should say, the yeasty smell is really estery. once the fermentation got going my temps were no higher than 21 so I dont believe it's that...

 

[Screwtop]

What's the recipe ? As time passes in my short but satisfying brewing 'career', I find that more & more there's observations concerning ingredients, and how they impact on the attenuation. Mine generally finish higher than expected, but I'm getting to know why, based on the processes (and the constituents of the wort) that came before it.

Don't worry about the funky/yeasty aspect for now. If it's not rank, the don't worry for now, the finished beer will probably be fine after bottle conditioning.

Glad to see good solid advice for a newb!

What was the OG James?

Cheers,

Screwy

 

[jbowers]

1.063.

According to that pitching calculator online a pack of US-05 was enough.

 

[Bribie G]

I've found that US-05 finishes off slowly after a robust start, sometimes frothy little bubbles just hang on and hang on. If you have the facilities to do so, racking it into another fermenter or a cube and cold crashing it for a few days before bottling or kegging will teach it who is boss and it's quite happy to fall out of suspension and wave goodbye. With such a big quantity of malt, the FG sounds ok.

 

[jbowers]

I can definitely do both of those things. However, im not entirely sure its done yet. I'm going to rack to secondary tomorrow I think for dry hopping.

 

[jbowers]

If I wanted to get this to attenuate lower in the futue, with the extract/grain bill I used, then what things could I do to help it along? Pitch more yeast? Aerate it more? I just stirred/shook it this time.

 

[Screwtop]

1.063.

According to that pitching calculator online a pack of US-05 was enough.

Really!! I use 2 packs over 1.060, pretty sure that gravity would need more than 11 grams. Will check the MrMalth Pitching Rate Calculator late on.

If I wanted to get this to attenuate lower in the futue, with the extract/grain bill I used, then what things could I do to help it along? Pitch more yeast? Aerate it more? I just stirred/shook it this time.

Swap some extract for some sucrose (sugar) (yes sugar) keeping your gravity the same, plus pitch the correct amount of yeast.

Cheers,

Screwy

Edit: Mr Malty says 16g of yeast

Swap about 8 - 10% of your extract for sugar. About 400g of sugar for 600g of malt extract should be somewhere around the mark.

 

[Steve]

What does the kruasen look like?

 

[jbowers]

Really!! I use 2 packs over 1.060, pretty sure that gravity would need more than 11 grams. Will check the MrMalth Pitching Rate Calculator late on.



Swap some extract for some sucrose (sugar) (yes sugar) keeping your gravity the same, plus pitch the correct amount of yeast.

Cheers,

Screwy

Edit: Mr Malty says 16g of yeast

Swap about 8 - 10% of your extract for sugar. About 400g of sugar for 600g of malt extract should be somewhere around the mark.

Hmmm. I don't know how you got 16g of yeast. What did you have the viability set to? I just had it at default setting of 90%. Also, I am making a 19l batch.

The krausen is pretty tame. It never rose a whole lot, there is a line of gunk about 3 cm above the liquid, i presume this was the highest the krausen got. Why?

 

[Screwtop]

Hmmm. I don't know how you got 16g of yeast. What did you have the viability set to? I just had it at default setting of 90%. Also, I am making a 19l batch.

The krausen is pretty tame. It never rose a whole lot, there is a line of gunk about 3 cm above the liquid, i presume this was the highest the krausen got. Why?

Fair nuff....19L at GU 63 so one pack is near enough. Why?........................................pretty normal :huh:

So one pack of yeast into a wort of 63 made from extract at roughly 65% fermentability = roughly 1.021 All as it should be.

Screwy

 

[jbowers]

It's gone down to 1.020 now, and smells and tastes a whole lot better. This sucker has got a good bit of hop kick!

Edit: Where did you get the 65% fermentables from? Just curious, I have a lot to learn yet!

 

[Screwtop]

It's gone down to 1.020 now, and smells and tastes a whole lot better. This sucker has got a good bit of hop kick!

Edit: Where did you get the 65% fermentables from? Just curious, I have a lot to learn yet!

Books are one way of learning



From Ray Daniels, Designing Great Beers

Screwy

 

[jbowers]

Thanks a lot. Is that a book you would recommend?